From September 15 until the Leavetaking, we sing “O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ. O son of God crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia” at weekday Liturgies following the Little Entrance.
The Holy Great Martyr Niketas (Nikḗtas) was a Goth (a Germanic tribe). He was born and lived on the banks of the Danube River, suffering for Christ in the year 372. The Christian Faith was already spreading throughout the territory of the Goths at that time. Saint Niketas believed in Christ and…
Saint Acacius the Confessor lived during the Decian persecution, and was Bishop of Melitene, Armenia. Arrested as a Christian, Saint Acacius was brought before the governor Marcianus, who ordered that he be tortured. He was not put to death, but was set free after a while, bearing the wounds of…
The Holy Martyr Theodotus suffered with Saints Maximus and Asklepiodote, at the beginning of the fourth century under the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311). Eminent citizens of the city of Marcianopolis, Maximus, and Asklepiodote led a devout Christian life. By their example they brought many to…
The Holy Martyr Porphyrios suffered during the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363). Porphyrios was an actor and on the Emperor’s birthday he was performing in a play at the theater, where he was supposed to mock the Mystery of Holy Baptism. During the play Porphyrios immersed himself in the…
During the reign of Saint Constantine the Great (May 21), Saint Stephen appeared three times to a pious old priest named Lukianos and revealed to him the place where his relics had been hidden. He informed Patriarch John of Jerusalem, who went to the designated spot and found the sacred relics of…
The Holy Presbyter and Wonderworker Philotheus lived in the tenth century in the village of Mravin (or Myrmix) located in Bythnia in Asia Minor. He was a married priest, and had children. He devoted himself to deeds of prayer and fasting, and works of charity. Because of his holy life, Saint…
Blessed Abba Joseph of Alaverdi was a disciple and companion of Saint John of Zedazeni, who in the 6th century arrived in Georgia with twelve Syrian ascetics to spread the Christian Faith. With the blessing of his teacher, Fr. Joseph settled in the village of Alaverdi in eastern Georgia. According…
Saint Joseph the New was born in 1568 at Raguza in Dalmatia, and was given the name Jacob at his Baptism. When he was very young, his father died, and he was raised by his mother. At the age of twelve, he was sent to Ochrid to be schooled. The young Jacob was called to live the monastic life when…
Saint Bessarion, Archbishop of Larissa, lived during the sixteenth century and founded the Dusika monastery in Thessaly.
Saint Gerasimus founded a monastery in honor of the Holy Trinity near Makrinitsa in Zagora (Mizia). This monastery received the name Zurvia (Survias).
The New Martyr John was from Crete, and worked as a farmer at New Ephesus (Kusantasi) in Asia Minor. He was a young man, and was engaged to be married. On August 29, John and two friends from Crete went to a festival to celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Baptist. They were stopped by the Turks,…
This is one of the most ancient icons of the Mother of God. It appeared to the holy martyr Nikḗtas (+ September 15, 372). Saint Nikḗtas, a former soldier, was a disciple of Bishop Theophilos of the Goths. Even before he was baptized, he saw a Child in a dream, holding a Cross in His hand. When…
1. The Holy Martyr Nicetas.
Nicetas was a Goth by birth, and a disciple of Bishop Theophilus of the Goths, who took part in the First Ecumenical Council. When Athenarik, Prince of the Goths, began to persecute the Christians, St Nicetas stood before the prince and denounced him for his paganism and inhumanity. Tormented by terrible tortures, Nicetas the more strongly confessed his faith in Christ, and prayed to God with thanksgiving. His mind was unceasingly lifted up to God and immersed in Him, and in his hand beneath his robe he held an icon of the holy Mother of God with the pre-eternal Christ Child standing and holding the Cross in His hands. St Nicetas carried this icon because the holy Mother of God had appeared to him and comforted him. Finally, the torturer threw Christ's martyr into the flames, in which St Nicetas breathed his last; but his body remained untouched by the fire. His friend Marianus took his body from the land of the Goths (Wallachia and Bessarabia) to Cilicia, to the town of Mopsuestia, where he built a church dedicated to St Nicetas and placed the wonderworking relics of the martyr in it. Nicetas suffered and was glorified in 372.
2. Our Holy Father Philotheus.
He was from the village of Myrmix or Mravin in Asia Minor. His mother had the same name the other way round - Theophila. He was a priest,, and a wonderworker even during his lifetime. On one occasion, he turned water into wine, and on another multiplied bread. He entered into rest in the Lord in the tenth century, and myrrh was found to flow from his relics.
3. The Holy Martyr Porphyrius.
An actor, he first mocked at Christians before Julian the Apostate. On one occasion, when he was mimicking the Christian mystery of Baptism, he was dipped into the water, pronouncing the words: 'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.' When he emerged from the water, he cried out: 'Now I am a Christian!' Everyone thought that this was in jest, as always, but he held firm to it, stopped mocking Christians and finally suffered for Christ. He was beheaded in 361, and entered into the Kingdom of Christ.
4. The Holy Martyrs Theodotus, Asclepidote and Maximus.
Nobles of Trachis, they suffered for Christ near Philipopolis in the village of Saltis, some time between 305 and 311, and entered into the Kingdom of heaven.
5. St Vissarion, Archbishop of Larissa, the Wonderworker.
He founded the Monastery of the Saviour in the diocese of Larissa, and was glorified by his miracles both during his lifetime and after his death. He lived in the sixteenth century.
6. The Holy New Martyr John of Crete.
He suffered for the Christian faith under the Turks in the city of Ephesus in 1811.
7. St Joseph, Bishop of Alaverdsk.
One of the twelve Syrian fathers (see May 7th), who were sent to the Caucasus area to preach the Gospel, St John went peacefully to the Lord in 570. His wonderworking relics are preserved in the Cathedral in Alaverdsk.
